New technique could significantly reduce emissions and provide a boost to the aviation industry.
Category: transportation – Page 345
High efficiency wind turbine based on jet engine technology
Circa 2008
December 122008 Massachusetts-based FloDesign has developed a wind turbine that could generate electricity at half the cost of conventional wind turbines. The company’s design, which draws on technology developed for jet engines, circumvents a fundamental limit to conventional wind turbines. Typically, as wind approaches a turbine, almost half of the air is forced around the blades rather than through them, and the energy in that deflected wind is lost. At best, traditional wind turbines capture only 59.3 percent of the energy in wind, a value called the Betz limit.
Jet engine wind turbine
FloDesign is a spin-off from the aerospace company FloDesign based in Wilbraham, MA which recently raised $6 million in its first round of venture financing. Their turbine design surrounds its wind-turbine blades with a shroud that directs air through the blades and speeds it up, which increases power production. The shroud concept is based on the same principles as a high bypass jet engine design that is used by all commercial jet aircraft engines to reduce noise and significantly improve efficiency. The new design generates as much power as a conventional wind turbine with blades twice as big in diameter. The smaller blade size and other factors allow the new turbines to be packed closer together in the field compared to conventional turbines, increasing the amount of power that can be generated per acre of land.
La Chine présente son train ‘maglev’ qui pourrait atteindre les 800 km/h
Les chercheurs de l’Université Jiaotong du Sud-Ouest ont dévoilé mercredi, à Chengdu, un nouveau prototype de train à sustentation magnétique, également appelé ‘maglev’ (magnetic levitation). Selon ses concepteurs, l’engin pourra, à terme, rivaliser en vitesse pure avec le transport aérien.
Avec le Transrapid de Shanghai, dont la vitesse maximale est de 430 km/h, la Chine dispose déjà du service commercial ‘maglev’ le plus rapide au monde. Mais avec le nouveau prototype de train dévoilé cette semaine, l’empire du Milieu espère bien disposer, dans un futur proche, d’un moyen de transport qui ira jusqu’à près de deux fois plus vite.
Supraconductivité
Les chercheurs chinois ont en effet développé ce nouvel engin à sustentation magnétique pour atteindre une vitesse de 620 km/h. Mais selon le site du South China Morning Post, ils s’efforçaient même de porter cette vitesse à… 800 km/h. De quoi rivaliser avec la plupart des avions du transport aérien commercial actuellement en service. Si certains problèmes doivent encore être réglés avant que la technologie ne devienne commercialement viable, le chercheurs pensent pouvoir en venir à bout au cours des six années à venir.
Big Brother gets even bigger: Moscow to create database with residents’ salaries, vehicle information & even school results
Moscow has revealed a plan to spend $2.4 million on a giant database containing information about every single city resident, including passport numbers, insurance policies, salaries, car registrations – and even their pets.
It will also include work and tax details, school grades, and data from their ‘Troika’ care – Moscow’s unified transport payment system, used on the metro, busses and trains.
The new proposal will undoubtedly increase fears about ever-growing surveillance in the Russian capital, where the number of facial recognition cameras has recently been increased.
Robotics Firm Unveils New Type-X Robotic Combat Vehicle
This robotic combat vehicle willl be supporting troops and tanks in the future. 😃
The Type-X Robotic Combat Vehicle acts as an “intelligent wingman” to ground troops. Explore it here.
Toyota To Turn Cow Manure Into Hydrogen To Back Its Fuel Cell Vehicle Push
The automaker is doggedly sticking with the clean fuel that has taken a backseat to batteries. The hydrogen-generation station at the Long Beach port, the first that’s megawatt-scale and 100% renewable, will fuel arriving Toyota Mirai sedans and its Project Portal semi.
Guy spends 7 years and $121K to build working Akira motorcycle
Circa 2012
If you’ve seen (or read) Katsuhiro Otomo’s classic Akira, you have, at one point or another, thought, “Man, I’d love to tear it up on Kaneda’s motorcycle.” One dude in Japan spent 10 million yen to make that dream come true, and he’s currently riding it across the Land of the Rising Sun to raise money for charity.
SONDORS Metacycle unveiled as low-cost 80 MPH electric motorcycle
SONDORS has just pulled up the curtain on its first-ever electric motorcycle, the SONDORS Metacycle. The new commuter electric motorcycle may just be the first truly low-cost electric motorcycle capable of both city and highway riding.
Of course terms like “affordable” and “low-cost” will always be relative.
But to put things in perspective, we live in a world where the $29799 Harley-Davidson LiveWire is considered largely a commuter electric motorcycle, though with enough power for some impressive drag races as well.
Carcopter is a flying hydrogen-powered formula 1 car conceived
is it a car? is it a helicopter? no, it’s carcopter. conceived by french start-up, MACA, this hydrogen-powered concept aims to revolutionize the way we travel. with its aerodynamic body and theoretical top speed of 153 mph (246 kph), this prototype in question is designed for a racing scenario. it intends to be the first (manned) flying hydrogen formula 1 car. the highly-futuristic vehicle is set to be shown at annual tech event, CES 2021.